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Quick tips for Removing Blood from Fabric

Oct 17, 2023
Removing Blood from Fabric — Covington, LA — Exit Biohazard & Crime Scene Cleanup

(If you are dealing with an accident, blood spill or death or suicide please call Exit Biohazard Cleanup 24-7)


Don’t you hate when you get a spot of blood on your clothes or sheets from a little home accident?  We deal with larger and more complex biohazards and crime scenes at Exit Biohazard Cleanup but we understand. Maybe you had a cut and just have a bit of blood on something important. That can ruin the clothes and trying to remove dried blood from fabric can feel like an impossible task. Here are a few tips on what to do.


Why is Blood So Difficult to Remove?
Blood clots when exposed to air due to the hemoglobin in the blood. Clotting helps heal wounds more quickly and helps prevent excessive blood loss. It’s really a great process but unfortunately, this clotting process that works so well with the human body also tends to bind it to porous materials once it has left the body. This is why it is difficult to remove from fabric and clothing. Always remember, cleaning a fresh blood stain is always preferable to a dried one. A cold-water rinse will often do the trick before the stain sets but you don’t have long. Typically the blood will set before you get a chance to rinse it. If that happens follow these tips which should help remove small amounts of dried blood from fabrics but know that there isn’t a perfect solution for all fabrics.

Not all blood is equal and in our industry its very important to be safe and wear PPE, so, before you begin you will need to consider a few things such as:

Where did this blood come from?
What kind of fabric am I dealing with?
How big is the stain you are dealing with? These questions can determine if this is worth trying to salvage or if you should consider tossing it in the trash.

Where did this blood come from? This is the most serious question on whether you should consider moving further. Blood is considered a
biohazard  and if the blood came from a known source such as your children or spouse, that’s one thing but if this blood came from an unknown source you should not take this lightly. Blood can contain pathogens  such as bacteria or viruses such as hepatitis that can be transferred to someone who touches it so take precautions. If you have more than a few drops of anyone's blood but especially unknown blood you should call Exit Biohazard Cleanup. We deal with this daily, we are professionals.

As far as the fabric material, fabrics containing different kinds of fibers require different stain removal techniques. Some fabrics just can’t be saved easily and others may be easy to clean.

With a small stain, you can try to get it out. A few drops of blood can be manageable but something larger may really pose a challenge and you may have to consider it for the trash.
 
Tips for Removing Dried Blood from Fabric
Please note: these tips are intended for very small amounts of blood only.  1.
Soak material for an hour in cool water. Soaking blood-stained fabric in cool water can help break up the stain and make it easier to remove.
Wash on a cold setting. Sometimes, soaking blood-stained fabric and then washing it in the washing machine is enough to remove a dried blood stain.
2. Only air
dry the fabric rather than dry it in a dryer so if a stain still remains after washing, the heat from the dryer doesn’t set the stain.
Scrub the stain with soap and water on both sides. This works especially well on sturdy fabrics like cotton and linen.

3. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. You may not be able to remove a blood stain on the first try so don’t be afraid to keep trying.
4. Try an
Enzymatic cleaner . If soap and water do not remove the stain, move on to an enzymatic cleaner, which will biodegrade the stain. There are several brands of Enzyme cleaner out there that usually work well on small stains if used correctly.
Large Blood Stains, Don’t Clean them on Your Own
Remember that blood is a biohazard and to clean blood spills properly, you should call a professional blood cleaning service such as
Exit Biohazard and Crime Scene Cleanup  . We are professionals  who can properly clean these scenes to remove all of the biohazardous materials. Blood, like water seems to get into every part of the are its spilled into. Under tiles, under walls and into many places that you simply can’t see. Blood and other bodily fluids  can cause odors if not cleaned and disinfected properly as well as stay a dangerous biohazard for long periods of time. Call Exit and let us safely clean and decontaminate the are for you.

By Valek Sykes 15 Nov, 2023
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By info 17 Oct, 2023
If you have a case of CDIFF and need help call EXIT BIOHAZARD CLEANUP and have us come and disinfect your home. What is CDIFF? C.diff stands for Clostridium difficile (klos-TRID-e-oi-deez dif-uh-SEEL), which is a germ or bacterium that causes a symptomatic infection due to the spore-forming bacterium, Clostridium difficile. It causes many Symptoms which include watery diarrhea, fever, nausea, and abdominal pain. It makes up about 20% of cases of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. It most commonly affects older adults in hospitals or in long-term care facilities. Complications may include pseudomembranous colitis, toxic megacolon, perforation of the colon, and sepsis which can be life threatening. One in 11 people over age 65 diagnosed with a healthcare-associated C. diff infection die within one month. In general it causes severe diarrhea and colitis (an inflammation of the colon). It’s estimated to cause almost half a million infections in the United States each year. C. diff can affect anyone. Most cases of C. diff occur when you’ve been taking antibiotics or not long after you’ve finished taking antibiotics. There are other risk factors such as being 65 or older, a recent stay at a hospital or nursing home, a weakened immune system, such as people with HIV/AIDS, cancer, or organ transplant patients taking immunosuppressive drugs, or previous infection with C. diff or known exposure to the germs. Because 1 in 6 patients who get C. diff will get it again in the subsequent 2-8 weeks . If you have been taking antibiotics recently and have symptoms of C. diff, you should see a healthcare professional as soon as possible. Getting diarrhea is fairly common while on, or after taking, antibiotics, but in only a few cases will that diarrhea be caused by C. diff . So if your diarrhea is severe you need to talk to your doctor and do not delay getting medical care. Your doctor will review your symptoms and order a lab test of a stool (poop) sample. If the test is positive, you’ll take a specific antibiotic (e.g. vancomycin or fidaxomicin) for at least 10 days. If you were already taking an antibiotic for another infection, your healthcare professional might ask you to stop taking it if they think it’s safe to do so. Your doctor may decide to admit you to the hospital, in which case they will use certain precautions, such as wearing gowns and gloves, to prevent the spread of C. diff to themselves and to other patients because it can be very contagious . its important to use a separate bathroom if you have diarrhea, thoroughly wash hands with soap and water every time you use the bathroom and always before you eat, and take showers washing well with soap. Cleanliness is key to beating this and stopping it from spreading to others or back to you. Because C.DIFF bacteria can last for months. When the bacteria are outside the human body they can be virtually anywhere in the environment. They are in a dormant state and essentially shutdown waiting for a new host. This enables them to survive for a long time from weeks to months in any number of places and that's why its very difficult to destroy and it is also why people often have the infection reoccur. The ability of it to be dormant and survive outside the body enables the generally easy transmission of the bacterium. It can last a long time sitting on surfaces, in soil or feces, in water areas, or even in food. Once the bacteria finds their way into a person's digestive system, they "wake up" and can begin to produce infection again. That being said, its not the easiest bacteria to kill. its not like covid which is pretty weak in the environment and generally dies quickly. this has some staying power and requires special cleaning and disinfection procedures. We often kill corona virus and other germs during our disinfection fogging services to help stop the spread of covid 19 and we kill 99.99% of germs and viruses in general for most of our services including our biohazard cleaning services, but CDIFF is something special and its much harder to kill so we have to bring out the big guns to do it. We mean specialty chemicals and procedures to kill what is there and what is hiding dormant. At Exit Cleanup we just think of this as another service we provide but as you can see its not your typical disinfection. If you have Cdiff or someone in your family does and you want us there to kill it, please just call and we will prepare for germ warfare for you. We will fight this for you.
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